e-Governance activities in Gujarat have been initiated at various levels by numerous Government entities including the Departments, District Offices, Comissionerates, and state agencies of the Government. These have been in the form of electronic documentation & information exchange, information & service delivery to citizens, process automation, and smaller computerization initiatives.
E-Governance in Gujarat Background
The State Government laid down the platform for eGovernance to be built with the announcement of a bold and aggressive IT policy in 1999. In addition, the erstwhile IT Division of the General Administration Department (Department of Science & Technology now) was specifically given the task of organizing the eGovernance drive in the state. Along with GIL & other Government, and IT agencies such as NIC & RESCO, the state as a whole has made significant progress in establishing the concept of eGovernance. A few particular efforts for eGovernance are listed below:
Policy Initiatives
The IT Policy earmarks the allocation of 1% of the budget of all Government departments for IT implementation. This is in addition to the various grants and projects taken up by the IT Division and GIL.
Citizen Charter – The Vadodara Model
The Vadodara District Collector Office took a lead to establish a citizen’s charter for various services provided by the office to citizens as well as creating a Citizen Information Centre with the help of IT. The project also envisaged the setting up of Information Kiosks at convenient points like Collector Office to provide information directly to the Citizen.
Computerization of Departments
Departments, by themselves, or with encouragement from IT Division & GIL have moved to computerize their processes in a phased manner. Most departments have already procured hardware and office software products and are in the process of developing total solutions and websites.
Land Records Computerization
The project taken up by the Revenue Department to computerize the record of rights for land for the entire state so that it can be provided transparently and efficiently to the rightful owners.
Gujarat Geographic Information System (GGIS) – RESCO
GIS-based system in integration with demographic data of various geographical regions of the state to give an easy analysis of information regarding various aspects of Government business such as civil supplies, water level, weather forecasts, etc.
Gujarat State Wide Area Network (GSWAN)
The State Wide Area Network connects the state headquarters to the district headquarters and Taluka Headquarters with dedicated optic fiber and provides data, voice & video connectivity.
With the entire above infrastructure in place, the next logical step is to develop and deliver solutions that actually make a difference in the lives of people at large. Mahitishakti is a reasonably successful attempt to achieve the stated objective. The proposal aims to describe the necessary action for the same.